This course, designed as a seminar, will trace the ways in which humans have dug into the ground in order to find the material remains of the past and then interpreted what they found. We will look at efforts of many kinds: discoveries made by chance as well as those made by deliberate searches; discoveries inspired by dreams and visions as well as those motivated by formal surveys; discoveries of the relics of saints, Christian and other, as well as the remains of ancient civilizations. We will examine our subjects’ ideas and their practices, and set both into context.
